If you have to drink a warm beer, you might as well not drink a beer at all. A can of beer perfectly chilled in the fridge is ideal, obviously. But on rare occasions, you might be left with room temperature beer in the pantry that needs to be chilled quickly. I'll admit, I've thrown a can of beer in the freezer to chill it fast. But if you leave a can of beer or carbonated water in the freezer for too long and it won't just freeze; it will explode. Well, at least the can might crack open and your beer will be ruined.
If the can stays intact and doesn't completely explode, the seal might break. Just like leaving a can of soda open for too long, this will give you flat beer. Part of what makes beer so refreshing are its effervescent bubbles. But when the drink is exposed to air, the carbon dioxide escapes, leaving a less-than-bubbly brew.
If this isn't enough to keep you from throwing your favorite beers in the freezer, this might: A thawed beer is likely to have less flavor. The Beer Syndicate Blog conducted an experiment where taste testers were given a beer that was not frozen and a beer that was placed in the freezer for two hours, then thawed. They found that 75% of the time, the testers were able to identify the beer that was frozen. The beer had a duller flavor in addition to being less carbonated and less aromatic.
"Overall, the impact of freezing beer in this case was subtle and at times difficult to detect," wrote Dan Leonard, beer editor for Beer Syndicate.
Now what happens to a beer placed in the freezer that was retrieved before it was frozen? I'll guess there are minimal, if any changes. But of course, you'll have to remember to pull it out of the freezer in time. And for me, that doesn't always happen.
If it's between a warm beer or the potential for a flat, flavorless beer—or no beer at all because of an exploded can—I'd probably choose warm beer or no beer at all. Or I'll set a timer.
